Save The Last Dance
by Kelex
Summary: Clark hates Homecoming; Lex does something special insteadn (Clark/Lex)


  
Save The Last Dance--Kel  
  
Clark hated Homecoming. Last year he'd missed it entirely, first having been scarecrowed and then being rescued by Lex, and **then** dealing with Jeremy. He sighed. This year… not even the chance to dance with Lana could pry him out of his Fortress. Nothing could.  
  
"Clark! Telephone!" called Martha from the porch. She got no response and sighed. "It's Lex!" Clark appeared almost instantly, the breeze ruffling his hair.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Clark."  
  
"Hey, Lex. What's up?"  
  
"Shouldn't you be at the Homecoming dance?"  
  
Clark could just envision Lex, sitting at his big mahogany desk, his feet propped on the shiny surface, his eyes sparkling and face mobile as he spoke. _Not the image you want to contemplate, Clark…_ "Not going this year."  
  
There was silence for a second. "Well then, why don't you come over?" There was a pause while Lex waited for a response. "I found those _Evil Dead_ movies you wanted."  
  
Clark shivered. "Can we skip the first one? It's just **way** too creepy."  
  
"Whatever you want, Clark."  
  
Clark shivered again, but it had nothing to do with the thought of a scary movie, and everything to do with the rough timbre of Lex's voice. "I'll be right over."  
  
"I'll be looking for you."  
  
Clark hung up the phone. "Mom, Lex invited me over for movies and popcorn."  
  
"Remember your curfew!"  
  
"Mom! It's Friday night, the chores are done, and everybody and his brother are at the Homecoming dance! Can't I just stay at Lex's?"  
  
Martha sighed. "Clark, you know how your father feels about that."  
  
"But he's in Metropolis tonight, won't be back until Sunday. Please, Mom? You know how he feels about Lex, he'd never let me." He turned his puppy dog eyes on her. "It's a couple of movies, a bowl of popcorn, and sodas."  
  
"All right, but make sure you're home in time to help out here Saturday morning. With your father gone, I'm going to need the extra help around here," Martha scolded lightly.  
  
"You can count on me, Mom, you know that."  
  
"I know, Clark. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye, Mom." Clark kissed her on the cheek and then blew out of the house. He didn't stop running until he got to Luthor Mansion, where the gate was already open. He walked through, watched as it swung shut behind him, then waved at the automated security camera that monitored it.  
  
Inside, Lex bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at Clark's salutation to the mechanical device. He watched through the camera as Clark was let into the house then climbed the steps towards his office. "In here, Clark!" he called out. He rested his chin on his steepled fingers as he watched the figure of his friend on the camera. He'd known weeks ago that Clark had had no intention of going to the homecoming dance this year--he'd have liked to think it was intuition but where Clark was concerned, Lex's intuition went out the window. It was more an instinctual knowledge, visceral and embedded deep inside him. And so he'd put a small plan in motion… nothing fancy. Just… a little something special for Clark.  
  
Clark peeked around the corner of the door, and his face spread into a wide grin. Lex was dressed in Clark's favorite outfit: a pair of casual black slacks that fit him perfectly, snug but not too tight, and a liquid-silk shirt that looked like velour but was smooth as glass, also snug but not tight. "You're… dressed up for the movies." His mouth went dry at the sight of Lex in the outfit. He looked… entirely too tempting.  
  
Lex prided himself on the fact that he was never caught unawares, and yet… Clark had just thrown him for a complete loop. The naked look of hunger that flashed through the young man's eyes as Lex had come around the desk had been too obvious to miss. _Oh, Clark, you suck at keeping secrets but I'm glad to know it,_ he thought dryly to himself. This called for a brief alteration of the night's plans, but nothing major. "That's because I have a surprise for you first. Come with me."   
  
Clark followed Lex up the stairs to his bedroom and swallowed hard. _Not where you need to be!_ Clark's inner voice screamed at him. _You don't need to add realism to your dreams!_ Clark shushed the voice as he looked at the bed and the blue pullover and jeans lying across it. "Lex?"  
  
"They're for you, Clark. I guessed on the sizes, but I think they'll fit." Which was a lie. He knew they'd fit; he'd had them custom tailored to Clark's size based on one of the many flannel shirts he'd left overnight at the castle.  
  
"Me?" Clark touched the clothes gently; the pullover was of the same liquid-silk as Lex's shirt, and the denim was ebony black but still soft to the touch. "Thank you, Lex, they're beautiful."  
  
_No more than you are,_ was on the tip of Lex's tongue, but he bit it back. "If you'd like to change, I can always turn my back," he said with a quirk of his lips.  
  
Clark flushed almost bright scarlet. "You've seen it before, right?" Lex raised a quiet eyebrow. "Cornfield, me on a pole, big S on my chest?"  
  
Lex snorted. "I hate to disillusion you, Clark, but I had more important things on my mind than ogling your body in your moment of distress," he said, his voice as dry as Clark had ever heard it. This time it was Clark's turn to raise a teasing eyebrow, and Lex merely curled his lips into a small smile in return. There was no reason for Clark to know that Lex's desire had been to throw him to the ground, tenderly cover the wounded boy in kisses and then ravish him without mercy. _No need at all, except that you're getting serious ravishment vibes from said young man,_ Lex amended to himself as he watched Clark strip to his boxers. He continued to watch as Clark slid the jeans on over his long legs, and then bit his tongue to stifle the gasp at the sexy hip-shimmy that Clark did to situate himself inside the snug waist. Finally, he turned around to Lex. "Nice fit," Lex said, straining for normal conversation. Clark's chest was bare and Lex was itching to touch. The button was open so that Clark could tuck in the shirt, and as soon as he put it on, it clung to every muscle and expanse of skin. Lex closed the distance between them and helped smooth the shirt over Clark's chest and back, and then Clark tucked the shirt in and hitched up the jeans, buttoning the waist and zipping up the fly. "I guessed well."  
  
Clark smiled at Lex, the grin made even more infectious by the bright blue of his eyes that shimmered in concert with the shirt. "You did, thank you so much."  
  
"Come on."  
  
"You mean this wasn't my surprise?"  
  
Lex had to grin at the genuine surprise in Clark's voice. "No, the clothes weren't the surprise."  
  
"What is?"  
  
"Well if I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" He lead Clark down to the ground floor, and wove through the hallways until they reached the back side of the house. "Here we are." He opened the gold and glass door and ushered Clark inside.  
  
As soon as they stepped inside, soft purple and white spotlights lit the large ballroom. A glitter ball sat in the middle of the room, throwing prisms and shapeless sparkles of light onto the walls, the ceiling, even the floor. "Lex?" Ethereal music was playing in the background, and aside from the two of them, the room was deserted.  
  
"This is your surprise, Clark," he said softly. "If you won't go to the Homecoming Dance, then the dance will come to you." He walked to the dais at the back of the room, and picked up a silver crown and sash. Carrying them back to Clark, he reached up and placed the silver crown on Clark's head. "You know, this crown actually belonged to Edward III, Black Prince of Wales?"  
  
Clark's eyes looked upwards. "This is real??"  
  
"Only the best for you, Clark." Lex draped the sash over Clark's shoulder and chest, admiring the rock-solidity with which his hand moved, betraying none of the nervousness that seemed to be sending his heart pounding out of his chest. Taking a deep breath, he held the same steady hand out to Clark. "Sire, may I have this dance?" Slowly he released the breath, waiting to see if Clark would move forward with him, or if this thing that was between them would crash and burn in the circle of soft spotlights.  
  
Clark looked down at the sash across his chest. _Homecoming King, 2002._ "It would be my pleasure." But instead of taking Lex's hand, Clark pulled Lex against him, pressing their bodies together. Lex's arms went immediately around Clark's waist and up over his back as they swayed together to the music.   
  
_We're pure intangible love  
You asked what I found in you  
I burn inside myself  
While the tempest returns  
It's been years I would say  
The night has lived too long  
I will find a way  
We'll stand in the sun_  
  
Lex sighed as he listened to the music. Clark's heart was beating steadily, and his hands were warm against Lex's back. He had picked this particular song specifically for the lyrics, and as he felt Clark pull him even closer, he pressed his cheek against Clark's shoulder. "Keep listening," Lex whispered. The music was saying all the words that he couldn't.  
  
_Where all our love resides  
Where the desonance seems to die  
I will meet you there  
We'll stand together  
Where the daylight falls and fades  
Your love lives in the sun  
I will pass your way  
This stands forever_  
  
Clark nodded against Lex's smooth head as he whispered the instruction to listen. He didn't know the name of the song, nor the artist, but the magic of the words seemed to resound inside him, echoing the things he felt but was afraid to say aloud. In the warm, welcoming embrace of his friend, the fear was slowly draining away.  
  
_You found eternity  
This could shatter your heart  
The reflection of your soul  
Was a vision of me  
Take all that I could be  
Take all I should be  
May faith lead your way  
Did you know it was me_  
  
Lex shivered inside Clark's embrace and found himself cocooned in impossibly strong arms. He found himself listening to the words as well, wondering what they were saying to his friend, hoping the words reached out to Clark as Lex could not. Hoping that somehow, the music would bring his heart's desire to him.  
  
_Where all our love resides  
Where the desonance seems to die  
I will meet you there  
We'll stand together  
Where the daylight falls and fades  
Your love lives in the sun  
I will pass your way  
This stands forever_  
  
Clark held tightly to Lex as the last chords of music faded away, but the words didn't. Another song started in the background, one Clark vaguely recognized but ignored as he clung to the otherworldly feeling of the previous one. As the woman's voice had sung of standing together, Clark had had a brief vision of Lex--with Clark by his side--standing in a field of vibrant sunflowers, Lex dressed completely in radiant white. Finally it faded, and all that remained was Lex in his arms. It was all he wanted. "Lex… look at me."  
  
Lex turned his face up to Clark and was rewarded with a sweet kiss, gentle and full of promise for the future. His hands moved to cup Clark's face, his fingers stroking his cheeks and then sliding down to rest on his shoulders. Lex felt both their bodies stirring, and he tugged Clark back into their dancing position. "Dance with me, Clark. Dance, and listen."  
  
_Maybe it's intuition   
But some things you just don't question  
Like in your eyes  
I see my future in an instant  
and there it goes  
I think I've found my best friend  
I know that it might sound more than  
a little crazy but I believe_  
  
Both men laughed softly at that, breathy laughter that was more a caress that whispered over skin, burning softly. "My best friend… who'd have thought I'd fall in love with my best friend?" Lex asked softly.  
  
_I knew I loved you before I met you  
I think I dreamed you into life  
I knew I loved you before I met you  
I have been waiting all my life_  
  
Clark wrapped his arms tightly around Lex and held on for his life. "I love you too, Lex. I didn't know you felt the same way."  
  
Lex smiled against Clark's chest. "I think I loved you from the moment you breathed your life into me."  
  
_There's just no rhyme or reason  
only this sense of completion  
and in your eyes  
I see the missing pieces  
I'm searching for  
I think I found my way home  
I know that it might sound more than  
a little crazy but I believe_  
  
"Missing pieces," Clark mused softly. "All the missing pieces of my life started falling into place after I met you, Lex. You're good for me. You've always been good for me."  
  
_A thousand angels dance around you  
I am complete now that I found you_  
  
"I don't ever want to be without you, Lex."  
  
"You won't be, Clark. I guarantee it." This time, it was Lex's kiss that promised forever.  
  
The End.  
  


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